At the end of the first week of classes, Xavier Players presents Patrick Marber’s Closer as part of the Week of Welcome program. The play is the first of what will be an annual production by Xavier alumni of the Xavier Players theater group.

The show is being presented at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 27, and Saturday, Aug. 28, and at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 29, in the Gallagher Student Center Studio Theatre. It is open to the public. Tickets are $5 in advance or $7 at the door and can be ordered online at www.xavier.edu/players.

This year’s production features alumni Scott Allison, Class of 2005, Brandon Anderson, Class of 2001, and Hannah Balash, Class of 2009. They return to the Xavier stage alongside Annie Huey, a graduate student, and senior Ellen Beltramo, who is the stage manager for the production.

Many students involved in theater at Xavier take jobs in the Greater Cincinnati area after graduation but continue to stay connected with theater and Xavier. Allison earned a degree in history and political science and works on Congressman Steve Driehaus's reelection campaign. Anderson earned a degree in public relations and minored in performance studies. He is a featured actor, singer and assistant general manager and media relations coordinator for Shadowbox: The Sketch Comedy & Rock ‘n’ Roll Club in Newport, Ky. Balash was a music major at Xavier and teaches private voice lessons at the Loveland Music Academy in Loveland, Ohio.

In Closer, four lives intertwine over the course of four and a half years in a densely plotted, stinging look at modern love and betrayal. In this world, the line between love, as desire, and hate is thin: endearments are followed by insults; embraces prepare for violence on all levels; and passion’s heat gives way to icy detachment.

Closer forces the audience to examine all dimensions of their own lives, even the ugly parts. Closer explores the selfishness of desire when detached from love and commitment. Audience members see bits of themselves in the characters.

“The play calls us, as life itself does, to deeper authenticity, to a reverence for personal integrity, and to the world of interrelation and interdependence that lies beyond mere hook-ups,” says director Bob Sauerbrey, adjunct professor of theology at Xavier.

“Understanding our lifelong psycho-spiritual development is essential to the teaching of theology. For students, sexuality pervades that development and cannot be separated from any other dimension of their lives. There is nothing casual about sex for those who perceive its power. ‘Hooking-up’ creates the illusion of intimacy without the commitment of love. Human relations degrade to mere ‘gestures,’ without significance.”

First-year Xavier students participate in a Hook-up Culture workshop, which helps them understand the pervasiveness of this culture in today’s society and how it can impact their lives.